Teen Titans Go! #45 Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

TEEN TITANS GO! #45

http://teentitans.toonzone.net/tt/ttgo/guide/t-teentitansgo45.jpg (http://teentitans.toonzone.net/tt/ttgo/guide/teentitansgo45.jpg)

Written by: J. Torres
Art by: Alex Serra and Fabio Laguna
Cover by: Todd Nauck

Special Secret Origins issue! The real stories behind Beast Boy and Cybrog's pasts can finally be revealed!

Comments?

[ShadowStar]

I'm on holiday at the moment, so I can't pick it up, but I'm really looking forward to this one...

[Antiyonder]

The Justice League finally appear in Teen Titans. Not bad for a panel.

Cyborg mentions meeting Sarah in a previous life. Is this suppose to be a reference to Sarasim from Cyborg The Barbarian?

[Rolling Cloud]

The Justice League finally appear in Teen Titans. Not bad for a panel.

Cyborg mentions meeting Sarah in a previous life. Is this suppose to be a reference to Sarasim from Cyborg The Barbarian?

Nah, I think it may be a reference to Cy's girlfriend Sara, which a relationship never followed through.

I think Sarasim is supposed to be a reference to that.

[DisneyBoy]

Okay...

So I had to hunt this issue down because some comic shops were sold out.

The Cover:

Wowsers! Very eye-catching Nauck-work! I can see why people bought this, since that image screams "Action packed!"

The Stories:

Sadly, the stories inside were really low-key. It's nice seeing the Titans spend some time volunteering, since it differenciates them from the Justice Leaguers. In the first story, I liked Beast Boy's attempts to make his own origins more interesting to the group of kids, but found a typo ("Stories, Cyborg?" when the kid should really be talking to BB) distracting. The obvious assumption that BB was bitten by a monkey turns out to be true, but the interesting twist here is that it was his parent's attempt at a cure that brought about his metamorphosis into a changeling. The way that story unfolds proves more interesting that Cyborg's origin, oddly enough. It's good to see the Doom Patrol mentionned, but what really won me over was how the kids didn't even know who they were. Frankly, I don't know them either, so that was cute. Overall, given how BB tends to be the source of most of this book's humor (although Starfire gets plenty of credit for that too), the jokes weren't really as strong as one might expect.

Cy's story was basically what you'd expect (he got into a car crash and was going to die), only with a parental twist similar to BB's. Trouble is, after introducing the idea that Cy didn't get along with his parents, we don't get any closure on what happened to them. They saved him, and he ran away...but has always known that they were just trying to help him? Then why not reunite with them and apologize?

The whole parents thing is just dropped in the end so we can see him get back together with an old girlfriend. Problem there is, we don't know for sure if they were dating before his accident, or after...or even in this dimension! What's this "other life" stuff about Cy? Maybe since I haven't seen all the TT episodes, I shouldn't complain. Still, continuity nods are only good when a first-time reader can either glaze over them or get them too. Here, it's a crucial part to enjoying the story, and since I didn't get it, it was hard to care about these two as a couple.

The Art:

When I saw some panels from BB's origin online, I thought for sure the first story would have the better art. Turns out most of BB's tale wasn't drawn super-well. The Justice League were nice to see, but rather off-model. Some panels show the characters in full when close-ups could have amplified the humor by showing the exaggerated expressions Nauck does so well. It's not terrible to look at. BB appears very childish, yet cute. It just doesn't work too well overall, especially after the high standards that Nauck set.

Cy's tale features slightly more typical "Disney" cartoon-ish art, which is sometimes completely on-model, and other times, just okay. Can't really complain about it though. Some panels even look as though Nauck inked them!

Final Word:

As much as I was looking forward to reading about Cyborg and Beast Boy's origins, this issue really took a laid-back approach to telling them. There's virtually no action here at all and without any humor to compensate, the whole thing feels a little blah. Maybe if Nauck had drawn this entire issue, I'd be happier with the end result. Instead, we get two guest-artists who fare well enough, but can't really elevate this issue beyond the ho-hum storytelling.

3 out of 5 stars

[ShadowStar]

DisneyBoy, in your opinion, is it better or worse than #44, and by how much?

[DisneyBoy]

I'm having a hard time being critical of this issue. I liked the work by the two fill-in artists, but objectively, I know this book could have looked better. Origin stories are staples, so I don't want to seem like I'm dissing Torres for writing these two. I'm glad he did. But still...it wasn't much of a surprising or entertaining read, so...

I'm going to say it's a little worse than issue 44 (with Red Raven). That issue had more of a balance of action, drama, humor and character progression.

I still think you should look this issue over in the comic shop, though, and decide for yourself. I knew I wanted to have their origin stories, so I bought it. But part of me feels silly for having done so, since I make it a habit to only buy issues that really seem to have their act together, so to speak.

[ShadowStar]

I just got it. It was good, but a little disappointing. I'm sure that issue 47 will be a lot better. Please answer me this: in my copy, the monkey that bit BB is brown; I thought, from the preview panels, that it was supposed to be green? Could someone please check their copy?

[DisneyBoy]

Won't be able to get back to you on that until Monday, but I'm pretty sure the monkey that bit him in mine is brown. In fact, I remember being surprised by that and wondering if the colorist had made a mistake. Then, I thought it was cool that he was bitten by a normal monkey, and it was the cure that basically messed him up and turned him green.

Which issue is 47? The Robin origin? I don't know...the artwork looked really, really iffy...

[ShadowStar]

Series director Michael Chang is doing the Robin origin in issue 47, so it ought to be great.

[ShadowStar]

I thought this comic came out every 4 weeks, but it seems to be a 5 week wait 'til issue 46. :confused: Does anyone know why this is?

[DisneyBoy]

No clue.

You know...it's sad but, this seems to be the only place online I can find where people discuss this comic series.

[ShadowStar]

No clue.

You know...it's sad but, this seems to be the only place online I can find where people discuss this comic series.

Err... What about www.titansgo.net (http://www.titansgo.net)? The forums there have numerous topics devoted, in a separate section, to the comic series. It's no wonder J. Torres visits there regularly.

[Mr. J]

could someone send me a pic of the JL Panel in this issue, I've heard its in here, but i cant find the issue

[DisneyBoy]

It is in this issue, but it's not much of an image. The fill-in artist for the story has a style that worked for Beast Boy, but not for Diana, Bruce and the others.

[Super_Staff]

...Actually...

I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of that panel either... :ack: